St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-10-02

horrible position. You know him,
but need only tell you that he has
speculated, and with funds that were
not his, but his employers funds that
| company from which he expected to re-
allZe enough money to repay his en-
| plOyerS has gone to pieces; he is not
only ruined, but at the mercy of pity
less justice which will dishOnor him for
ever. What must he do? Advise me-"
cit would be useless" she answered,
gravely; ''there is but one thing he can
do. No one should live diShOnOred-he
must give up his life!"
But his wife, whom he address,"
''Then he is married?'
YeS," said Adrlen, prey to lntOler-
able anguish, and torn between shame
and the desire to tell the truth, ''he is
married: but wait, he, continued in a
Strangled voice, 'swais till'sI tell you
everything. The nlail who has specu-
lated with the fundsEof his employers,
this man who is ruined and tomorrow
will be dragged before court of justice,
is-myself-l- Adrien Verdon your
own husband!"
"You!" cried Renee, growing as pale
as death; ''you-my husband!"
IL" he answered. Il am wretch, a
villain if you will, but swear to you |
had no thought of this. l was certain
of repayment, and borrowed from the
| drawer only as loan, without a thought
of diShOnOr. For Gods sake, Renee,
believe and pardon mel"
For a while after this neither of them
! spoke word, but crushed, Inundated,
overwhelmed by the disaster that had
come upon them, sat in their places sad
and motionless, the ripping water
dimpling at their feet, the blue sky full
OF sunshine, throwing upon them the
! irony of its joy. Renee uttered neither
| complaints nor determinations, not even
a sob escaped her, only the pallor of her
face, the rigidity of her features,
BETRAYED HER TERRIBLE DESPAIR
Adrien was sad and silent also. but
with the questioning eye of the culprit.
10 him his wife was a judge, and he
bent like reed before the power of
her intieXible integrity-her steadfast
| nature.
'You are sure that all is lost?" said
Renee, presently, turning her eyes upon
he husbands face; .'sure that nothing
can be repaired OF altered?''
absolutely AlSosthat it is dishonor
as well as ruin. y
''Then," she added firmly, 1--WE must
accept it, but accept it only in death.''
10 You mean that we must die-that
we must give up our lives, both of us?'
Both of us. and now! We were seen
to depart together, and it will be thought
an accident We are alone in the world,
without ties or kindred; nothing at
taches us to life. l love you; am
bound to you by indissoluble ties, and
your shame is my shame. We have
lived together some beautiful hours, too
beautiful to last. and destiny has been
too strong for u.s."
"And we must die?" repeated Adrien,
in gloomy voice, as If unable to grasp
so cruel a solution to their difficulties:
1--WE must die. and here!'
'And here!" Renee responded stead
lily, suicide is crime, know; but God
reads my heart-He will pardon US
The sun, now low in the horizon, sent
long trail of purple light along the
sky and the darkening water, and over
there at the foot of the cliffs, lightly
gilded by the dying rays, the bathers
swarmed in merry groups. The hus-
band and wife, however, did not pro-
long their sorrowful adieuX, but with
last lingering look in the direction of
the land, which soon they would see no
more, lean heavily upon the edge of
their bark-it rocks, bends, capSiZeS-
and they are plunged into the water.
The twilight has fallen upon the beach
of Dieppe; the sea the color of lead,
ShiverS with the sound of the wind in
the pines. No oneiis ON the strand at
this hour, but over in a corner, on the
other side of the port, there is a dark
group of frightened people, and close by
on the rocks, covered with slime and sea
weed, cluster of fishermen lifting.
rolling and struggling to call to life
again an inert body. 1t is Adrien. A
good man from Pallet had seen the dis
aSter from distance and fastened to
their assistance. He had arrived just in
time to rescue Adrien caught by his
clothing to the side of the boat as he
sank into final Inconsistencies.
1t was not long before the story of the
unfortunate couple spread throughout
the city. Every one was filled with pity
and regret and anxious to assist Adrien
-dOubly anxious when it was learned
that the unhappy man had returned to
life, it was true, mailman, raving.
frantic mailman. The law, however,
was before them: Justice had him i'm
her clutches, and Pity, necessarily prac-
tical, could give him nothing but a
berth in the intirmary or prison.
Yes, Adrien was hopeless, incurable
mailman, a prey to fixed idea that
Renee had not left him of her own ac-
cord, but had been torn from him by the
people who surrounded him, and that
UOCtOlS, idWytIS, .uu1St .SIl0rU every
one with whom he was brought in con-
tact, had no other aim than to keep her
from him. Days passed into weeks and
weeks into months, but Adrien'S cOndi-
ton was still unchanged. Renee waited
for him, Renee called to him constantly:
they would soon be relieved of their
embarraSSmentS
AND UNITED TO PART9No MORE.
With the conviction of acute delirium
he regarded himself as the victim of a
cruel persecution, and one night, with
the cunning that seems always to re-
ceeded in eluding the vigilance of the
attendants and escaping through win
dow accidentally left unfastened.
1t was but the work of moment to
scale the walls and gain the fields and
the open highway. The stars shone
like diamonds in the azure of the sky,
the sea murmured before him, but on
he went straight ahead, lured by the
sound of voice that he was certain he
heard calling to him from the cliffs upon
the side of Puy; and in the distance,
over there on the end of the promon-
tory, the light house of ALLY threw into
the shadows its intermittent flashes.
Across the fields, however, Adrien
rushed onward, feverish and wild with
hope. He knew that Renee was there
he heard her voice plainly; moreover,
like the will-o'- the-wisp of his childhood,
her form fitted before him as he plunged
through the darkness. He saw her
she was there-his wife-his beloved
one, standing OH the summit of the
cliffs, her arms extended to greet him,
her breast putting with ecstacy, an
adorable, alluring phantom, upon the
very edge of that dangerous abyss.
Closer and closer he drew to the gulf,